| Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41. ≈ Leave a comment There is cause for rejoicing in Lizzieland! Sarah Miller’s upcoming book, Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century is a winner. Aimed at the young adult demographic, this is a page-turner for anyone wanting to get the facts on the infamous Borden double homicide of 1892. Miller has an appealing you-are-there style which engages the reader from the start, but best of all, this is a work based on the source documents in the case without all the speculations, theories, rumors and misinformed myths which mislead and muddy the case . Thoughtfully organized by chapter from the events of August 4th through the inquest, preliminary, trial and aftermath, this is a sensible read which enlightens and frankly, – entertains. The text is studded with inserts of useful knowledge set off in gray which provide useful background information on everything from the jury, Lizzie’s dresses to places and people.

These enrichments, along with a Who’s Who of all the important players in the story help to expand the reader’s understanding of the finer points of the case. The author’s aim to create a balanced view of the case, along with painting a truer picture of Lizzie as a real human being, not an axe-wielding caricature, as so often portrayed , has been amply realized. It’s refreshing to see Lizzie in a neutral light while considering the possibility that she may have been innocent. This is a thinkers’ book which engages the reader from the very first page and kicks those little gray cells into overdrive. A cold winter ‘s night, a cup of hot cocoa and Miller’s, Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century- nothing could be better for the true crime reader. Just be warned, it will be a long night as you will not want to put this one down! (Shelley Dziedzic for Lizzie Borden, Warps and Wefts) ≈ 3 Comments Over the years the Second Street Irregulars and the Pear Essential Players have been fortunate to be able to visit Maplecroft on many occasions, either individually or as a group.

Photos allowed to be taken of the interiors were promised to be viewed privately until such time as the owner sold the house. Now these may be shared. The most remarkable feature about Maplecroft is the wood – floors, paneling and woodwork, especially the fireplace mantels. The stonework in Lizzie’s hearth in the back bedroom over the porch and the big stone chimney are memorable. It was very exciting to see her own dining room wall paper choice and the tin ceiling in the kitchen. Here is a sampling of the interiors and exteriors, from the entry to the third floor. It was thrilling to see the window seat in the front second floor room and imagine Lizzie watching out. Link to photo album below. Lizzie Borden Took An Axe and Gave Her Mother Forty Whacks - YouTube Lizzie Borden Took An Axe and Gave Her Mother Forty Whacks Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later.

Published on Jun 4, 2013 Lizzie Borden Took An Axe And Gave Her Mother Forty Whacks! When she saw what she had done She gave her father forty-one Library of Congress Important Dates: August 4, 1892: Andrew and Abby Borden are murdered in their home in Fall River, Massachusetts. August 11, 1892: Lizzie Borden is arrested in Fall River for the murder of her father and stepmother. June 5, 1893: The trial begins in New Bedford, Massachusetts and lasts fifteen days. June 20, 1893: Lizzie Borden is found not guilty and acquitted.

In 1892, a gruesome double murder took place The parents of Lizzie Borden were killed The case is still unsolved Lizzie stood trial, but was not charged with the crime Children teased her with the nursery rhyme you just heard Everyone wondered if she was guilty and got away with murdering her parents or if she was a triple victim, losing her mother, father and then being charged with murder The suffering didn't end with the trial She suffered her entire life, but she's dead now and her suffering is over Does she still frequent the house where this all took place? If you want, you can spend the night there, because it's now a bed and breakfast (Laugh) Wouldn't that be fun! Take your girlfriend there! (Crazy laugh) She will never forget it! Kinky!

Many people wrote about this event and I tried to find one that wasn't copyrighted It seems that everyone is selfish and they don't want to share a good story, so I'm going back to the original newspaper write up and I'll just read from that There are many newspapers which covered the story and if you want to go to the Library of Congress, you can read them all I just picked one at random to read and it's the New York Sun and look it's copyrighted! Should I read it? I'm already in YT's COPYRIGHT PRISON, following a complaint by Coast to Coast I've been in prison for five months and I'm supposed to be paroled in July, maybe Why don't you bake me a cake, so I can get out early, if you know what I mean?

In 1892, newspapers printed the truth, as best they could They didn't have a federal government which intimidated them with the threat of an IRS audit or harassment by other weaponized government agencies Today, they are all weaponized and the Nazis won't allow anyone to deliver the truth They want total control and so we have to cut off their funding and starve them to death Look at what it says here: IF YOU SEE IT IN THE SUN, IT'S SO! If your government says it's so then it is certainly a lie a false flag, inside job, terrorist attack on Americans by the CIA and the Nazis If we don't stop them, they will kill billions of innocent people! Read the Henoch Prophecies, on this channel The second video will scare you to death! The last pope is now in place and he will reign for just 3 years, says Groovy Ev Groovy Ev knows all and he is accessible to answer your questions Now, we shall begin the article, if you dare! Category Lizzie Borden took an axe, Gave her mother 40 whacks ..

♪ ♫ | Carla Baron Posted on March 15, 2011 by Psychic Carla Baron HBO and Tom Hanks’ Playtone productions are undertaking a new 4-hour mini-series retelling of the infamous legend of “Lizzie Borden” starring Chloë Sevigny. (In order to prepare for the role, Sevigny’s reportedly been staying at the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast.) Of course, I had viewed the original tv movie starring a haunting Elizabeth Montgomery – The Legend of Lizzie Borden. (A friend sent me a dvd copy.) It first premiered on ABC February 10, 1975. This version was masterfully crafted, and one that inspires me to look deeper someday into this mysterious unsolved macabre murder scene. As a well-known psychic profiler, I must say this case intrigues me more than most. I would love one day soon to film in Fall River, documenting my personal thoughts on this historical crime scene, and what may have really happened there. The Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast has graciously extended me their standing personal invitation to visit.

In fact, “Haunting Evidence” was looking at Lizzie Borden as a possible episode for our Season 3, but the execs @ truTV felt it was a story that had been a bit overdone by other networks, so they passed. Freaky side note: My mother happens to have an uncanny resemblance to actress Elizabeth Montgomery in facial features, mannerisms, gestures. Lizzie Andrew Borden (July 19, 1860 – June 1, 1927) was a New England spinster who was the central figure in the hatchet murders of her father and stepmother on August 4, 1892, in Fall River, Massachusetts, in the United States. Although Lizzie Borden was acquitted, no one else was ever arrested or tried, and she has remained a notorious figure in American folklore. Dispute over the identity of the killer or killers continues to this day. Do I feel Lizzie Borden is guilty of these gruesome blood-filled axe murders? Could she have been suffering from an epileptic seizure of the temporal lobe during her menstrual cycle?

(It is indeed, reported that on August 4, 1892, she was having her period.) My psychic senses point to “Yes.” The Rhyme and the Crime: Lizzie Borden’s Forty Whacks by Deborah Lacy Lizzie Borden had an axe She gave her mother 40 whacks When she saw what she had done She gave her father 41 Do you remember that rhyme from childhood? A friend recently brought it up to a group of us and it just rolled off my tongue. I didn’t even have to think about it. But as we started talking about the rhyme none of us knew how much of this short deadly poem is true. So we decided to do a little research on those murders that took place 121 years ago this month, in 1892. Andrew and Abby Borden were in fact brutally killed that hot August day at their home in Fall River, Massachusetts, but did Lizzie Borden kill them? The facts may surprise you. Who Actually Died? The body of Lizzie Borden’s father, wealthy banker Andrew Borden, was found hacked to death in the parlor of the Borden home.

When police arrived on the scene and went upstairs the body of Andrew’s second wife, Lizzie’s stepmother, Abby was discovered. The coroner at the time confirmed that Abby was killed before Andrew, so our poet got the timeline right, but Abby was Lizzie’s stepmother not her mother. They didn’t have such a great relationship, which is one of the reasons Lizzie landed on the suspect list so quickly. Lizzie and her sister, Emma, thought their stepmother was only after their father’s money. Emma was out of town when the murders went down and was never suspected. Why Was Lizzie Borden the Only Suspect? More Women in Criminal History: Stacey Castor: 21st Century Black Widow Police became suspicious when Lizzie burned the dress she wore that day. In 1892, it was likely that she only had a few dresses, and clothing was more expensive than it is today relative to income. So why did she burn that dress? She claimed it had been stained by paint. The officers on the scene thought it might be stained with something else entirely. The police also thought it was strange that Lizzie didn’t seem upset after the murders.

It was noted in the police report that she did not faint. When you combine that with Lizzie’s disdain for her stepmother and the fact that, as spinsters at the time, Lizzie and Emma replied on their father’s money, and he was notoriously stingy, the police had found their suspect and they weren’t letting go. Was the Murder Weapon Really an Axe? No. It was a hatchet, but the word “axe” rhymes better with “whacks”. This grisly method of murder, in combination with the accusations against Lizzie who was 32, made this a mega-sensational trial. At this time, women were thought to be the weaker sex and rarely murderers. Lizzie with an axe in hand made a great story for the newspapers. How Many Blows Did it Take? While both Bordens died from blows from the hatchet, it took considerably fewer whacks than claimed in the poem. The coroner said it took 19 blows to kill Abby Borden and only 10 or 11 for Andrew. He also said that both Bordens were dead after the first blow. The other blows were unnecessary.

It shows the killer was raging mad when the couple was murdered and possibly had personal reasons to be so angry. How Much Time Did Lizzie Borden Spend in Jail? None. She was acquitted of the crimes. And the jury only deliberated for ten minutes before reaching the Not Guilty verdict. Lizzie lived out the rest of her long life in Fall River, Massachusetts, where many of her neighbors still believed she was guilty. She and her sister, Emma, had a falling out in later life, but the reasons for their strain are not clear. Lizzie and Emma inherited their father’s estate in equal parts and were able to live as rich women. The crime has never been solved and no one else was ever charged with the crimes. If you want to learn more about Lizzie Borden and her family, you can visit the old Borden house, now the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast and Museum in Fall River, Mass. Their motto? Where everyone is treated like family. The owners are serious about the bed and breakfast part of the title, you can spend the night, host a wedding or a “paranormal experience” at the Borden House.

The website features the Lizzie Borden community, where each year members can win a night at the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast. The gift shop at the museum is full of 40 whacks kitsch ranging from the Lizzie Borden bobble head to murder scene coffee cups and an axe cookie cutter. Lizzie reportedly still haunts the property. Criminal Element Editor Picks: The Trial of Lizzie Borden The Trial of Lizzie Borden by Doug Linder (2004) The Borden home in Fall River, Mass. Lizzie Borden took an axe, And gave her mother forty whacks, When she saw what she had done, She gave her father forty-one. Actually, the Bordens received only 29 whacks, not the 81 suggested by the famous ditty, but the popularity of the above poem is a testament to the public's fascination with the 1893 murder trial of Lizzie Borden. The source of that fascination might lie in the almost unimaginably brutal nature of the crime--given the sex, background, and age of the defendant--or in the jury's acquittal of Lizzie in the face of prosecution evidence that most historians today find compelling.

Background On a hot August 4, 1892 at 92 Second Street in Fall River, Massachusetts, Bridget ("Maggie") Sullivan, the maid in the Borden family residence rested in her bed after having washed the outside windows. She heard the bell at City Hall ring and looked at her clock: it was eleven o'clock. A cry from Lizzie Borden, the younger of two Borden daughters broke the silence: "Maggie, come down! Come down quick; Father's dead; somebody came in and killed him." A half hour or so later, after the body-- "hacked almost beyond recognition" --of Andrew Borden had been covered and the downstairs searched by police for evidence of an intruder, a neighbor who had come to comfort Lizzie, Adelaide Churchill, made a grisly discovery on the second floor of the Borden home: the body of Abby Borden, Lizzie's step-mother. Investigators found Abby's body cold, while Andrew's had been discovered warm, indicating that Abby was killed earlier--probably at least ninety minutes earlier--than her husband.

The body of Andrew Borden Under the headline "Shocking Crime: A Venerable Citizen and his Aged Wife Hacked to Pieces in their Home," the Fall River Herald reported that news of the Borden murders "spread like wildfire and hundreds poured into Second Street...where for years Andrew J. Borden and his wife had lived in happiness." The Herald reporter who visited the crime scene described the face of the dead man as "sickening": "Over the left temple a wound six by four had been made as if it had been pounded with the dull edge of an axe. The left eye had been dug out and a cut extended the length of the nose.

The face was hacked to pieced and the blood had covered the man's shirt." Despite the gore, "the room was in order and there were no signs of a scuffle of any kind." Initial speculation as to the identity of the murderer, the Fall River Herald reported, centered on a "Portuguese laborer" who had visited the Borden home earlier in the morning and "asked for the wages due him," only to be told by Andrew Borden that he had no money and "to call later." The story added that medical evidence suggested that Abby Borden was killed "by a tall man, who struck the woman from behind." Two days after the murder, papers began reporting evidence that thirty-three-year-old Lizzie Borden might have had something to do with her parents' murders. Most significantly, Eli Bence, a clerk at S. R. Smith's drug store in Fall River, told police that Lizzie visited the store the day before the murder and attempted to purchase prussic acid, a deadly poison.

A story in the Boston Daily Globe reported rumors that "Lizzie and her stepmother never got along together peacefully, and that for a considerable time back they have not spoken," but noted also that family members insisted relations between the two women were quite normal. The Boston Herald, meanwhile, viewed Lizzie as above suspicion: "From the consensus of opinion it can be said: In Lizzie Borden's life there is not one unmaidenly nor a single deliberately unkind act." Police came to the conclusion that the murders must have been committed by someone within the Borden home, but were puzzled by the lack of blood anywhere except on the bodies of the victims and their inability to uncover any obvious murder weapon. Increasingly, suspicion turned toward Lizzie, since her older sister, Emma, was out of the home at the time of the murders. Investigators found it odd that Lizzie knew so little of her mother's whereabouts after 9 A.M.

when, according to Lizzie, she had gone "upstairs to put shams on the pillows." They also found unconvincing her story that, during the fifteen minutes in which Andrew Borden was murdered in the living room, Lizzie was out in the backyard barn "looking for irons" (lead sinkers) for an upcoming fishing excursion. The barn loft where she said she looked revealed no footprints on the dusty floor and the stifling heat in the loft seemed likely to discourage anyone from spending more than a few minutes searching for equipment that would not be used for days. Theories about a tall male intruder were reconsidered, and one "leading physician" explained that "hacking is almost a positive sign of a deed by a woman who is unconscious of what she is doing." On August 9, an inquest into the Borden murders was held in the court room over police headquarters. Before criminal magistrate Josiah Blaisdell, District Attorney Hosea Knowlton questioned Lizzie Borden, Bridget Sullivan, household guest John Morse, and others. During her four hours examination, Lizzie gave confused and contradictory answers. Two days later, the inquest adjourned and Police Chief Hilliard arrested Lizzie Borden.

The next day , Lizzie entered a plea of "Not Guilty" to the charges of murder and was transported by rail car to the jail in Taunton, eight miles to the north of Fall River. On August 22, Lizzie returned to a Fall River courtroom for her preliminary hearing, at the end of which Judge Josiah Blaisdell pronounced her "probably guilty" and ordered her to face a grand jury and possible charges for the murder of her parents. In November, the grand jury met. After first refusing to issue an indictment, the jury reconvened and heard new evidence from Alice Russell, a family friend who stayed with the two Borden sisters in the days following the murders. Russell told grand jurors that she had witnessed Lizzie Borden burning a blue dress in a kitchen fire allegedly because, as Lizzie explained her action, it was covered with "old paint." Coupled with the earlier testimony from Bridget Sullivan that Lizzie was wearing a blue dress on the morning of the murders, the evidence was enough to convince grand jurors to indict Lizzie for the murders of her parents.

(Russell's testimony was also enough to convince the Borden sisters to sever all ties with their old friend forever.) The Trial Borden trial jurors The trial of Lizzie Borden opened on June 5, 1893 in the New Bedford Courthouse before a panel of three judges. A high-powered defense team, including Andrew Jennings and George Robinson (the former governor of Massachusetts), represented the defendant, while District Attorney Knowlton and Thomas Moody argued the case for the prosecution. Before a jury of twelve men, Moody opened the state's case. When Moody carelessly threw Lizzie's blue frock on the prosecution table during his speech, it revealed the skulls of Andrew and Abby Borden.

The sight of her parents' skulls, according to a newspaper account, caused Lizzie to fall "into a feint that lasted for several minutes, sending a thrill of excitement through awe-struck spectators and causing unfeigned embarrassment and discomfiture to penetrate the ranks of counsel." For most of the two hours of Moody's speech, Lizzie watched from behind a fan as the prosecutor described Lizzie has the only person having both the motive and opportunity to commit the double murders, and then pulled from a bag the head of the axe that he claimed Lizzie used to kill her parents. The first several witnesses for the state testified concerning events in and around the Borden home on the morning of August 4, 1892. The most important of these witnesses, twenty-six-year-old Bridget Sullivan, testified that Lizzie was the only person she saw in the home at the time her parents were murdered, though she provided some consolation to the defense when she said that she had not witnessed, during her over two years of service to the family, signs of the rumored ugly relationship between Lizzie and her stepmother. "Everything was pleasant," she said.

"Lizzie and her mother always spoke to each other." (Other prosecution witnesses disputed Sullivan's assertion that all was fine between Lizzie and her stepmother. For example, Hannah H. Gifford, who made a garment for Lizzie a few months before the murders, described a conversation in which Lizzie called her stepmother "a mean good-for nothing thing" and said "I don't have much to do with her; I stay in my room most of the time.") Sullivan also testified that Andrew and Abby Borden experienced stomach pains on the day before the murder and told jurors that at the presumed time of Abby's Borden she was washing outside windows. She testified that she opened the door for Andrew Borden after he returned home from his walk about town, and then described hearing Lizzie's cry for help a few minutes after eleven o'clock. Several witnesses described seeing Andrew Borden at various points in town in the two hours before he returned home to his death. Household guest John Morse, age sixty, described having breakfast in the Borden home on the morning of the murders and then leaving the house to perform chores. The next set of witnesses described events and conversations after discovery of the murders. Dr.

Seabury Bowen, the Borden family physician summoned to the home by Lizzie in the late morning of August 4, recounted Lizzie's story about looking for lead sinkers in the barn and her contention that her father's troubles with his tenants probably had something to do with the murders. On cross-examination, Seabury agreed with the defense's suggestion that the morphine he prescribed for Lizzie might account for some of the confused and contradictory testimony she gave at the inquest following the murders. Adelaide Churchill, a Borden neighbor and another important witness, remembered Lizzie wearing a light blue dress with a diamond figure on it, but did not recall seeing any blood spots it. John Fleet, the Assistant Marshal of Fall River, recalled his interview with Lizzie shortly after the murders. Lizzie corrected him, he testified, when he called Abby Borden her "mother." "She was not my mother, sir," Lizzie replied, "She was my stepmother: my mother died when I was a child." The most compelling testimony came again from Alice Russell.

Russell described a visit from Lizzie the night before the murders in which she announced that she would soon be going on a vacation and felt "that something is hanging over me--I cannot tell what it is." Then, according to Russell, after describing her parents' severe stomach sickness (which she attributed to bad "baker's bread"), Lizzie revealed, "I feel afraid something is going to happen." Explaining her feeling, Lizzie told Russell that "she wanted to go to sleep with one eye open half the time for fear somebody might burn the house down or hurt her father because he was so discourteous to people." Turning his questioning to the Sunday after the murders, District Attorney Moody asked Russell about the dress burning incident. Russell recounted that when she asked Lizzie what she was doing with the blue dress, she replied, "I am going to burn this old thing up; it is covered with paint." On cross-examination, defense attorney George Robinson attempted through his questions to suggest that a guilty person seeking to destroy incriminating evidence would be unlikely to do it in so open a fashion as Lizzie allegedly did.

Russell also recounted a conversation with Lizzie about a note, which according to Lizzie's account, she received from a messenger on the morning of the murders summoning her to visit a sick friend. (Lizzie used the note to explain why she thought her mother had left the home and therefore didn't think to look for her body after discovering her father's. Despite a thorough search of the Borden home, the alleged note never was found.) Russell said she sarcastically suggested to Lizzie that her mother might have burned the note. Lizzie, according to Russell, replied, "Yes, she must have." A newspaper account of the prosecution case likened it to "a pigeon shooting match in which District Attorney Moody kept flinging up the birds and defying his antagonist to hit them, while the ex-Governor (defense attorney Robinson) constantly fired and often, but by no mean always, wounded or brought them down. Robinson's performance impressed reporters, with one writing that the ex-Governor "is certainly without equal in New York City as a cross-examiner." Robinson seemed any to "turn more or less to his own account" nearly every government witness, according to one trial account.

The defense made its case using, for the most part, the state's own witnesses. "There has never been a trial so full of surprises," wrote one reporter covering the trial, "with such marvelous contradictions given by witnesses called for a common purpose." The defense kept hammering at the contradictory testimony of key prosecution witnesses. The defense also explored holes in the prosecution case: Where, the defense asked, is the handle that supposedly broke off from the axe head that the state hauled into court and claimed was part of the murder weapon? The state had no answer. The defense also exploited the government's own timeline, which allowed from eight to thirteen minutes between Andrew Borden's murder and Lizzie's call to Bridget Sullivan, Robinson tried to suggest the difficulty of washing blood off one's person, clothes, and murder weapon of blood, and then hiding the murder weapon, all within that short span of time. The decisive moment in the trial might have come when the three-judge panel ruled that Lizzie Borden's inquest testimony, full of contradictions and implausible claims, could not be submitted into evidence by the prosecution.

The judges concluded that Lizzie, at the time of the coroner's inquest, was for all practical purposes a prisoner charged with two murders, and that her testimony at the inquest, made in the absence of her attorney, was not voluntary. Lizzie should have been warned, the judges said, that she had a right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to remain silent. The judges rejected the state's argument that Lizzie was only a suspect, not a prisoner, at the time of the inquest, and that anyway her statement should be admitted because it was in the nature of a denial rather than a confession. The prosecution rested its case on June 14 after one final defeat. The state wanted to have druggist Eli Bence recount for the jury his story of Lizzie Borden visiting a Fall River drug store on the day before the murders and asking for ten cents worth of prussic acid, a poison. With the jurors excused, each leaving the courtroom with a palm leaf fan and ice water, the state tried to establish through medical experts, druggists, furriers, and chemists, the qualities, properties, and uses of prussic acid.

The judges, after listening to the state's foundational case, concluded that the evidence should be excluded. The defense presented only a handful of witnesses. Charles Gifford and Uriah Kirby reported seeing a strange man near the Borden house around eleven o'clock on the night before the murders. Dr. Benjamin Handfy testified that he saw a pale-faced young man on the sidewalk near 92 Second Street around 10:30 on August 4. A plumber and a gas fitter testified that in the day or two before the murders they had been in the Borden's barn loft, casting doubt on police assertions that Lizzie's alibi was suspect because dust in the loft appeared undisturbed. Emma Borden, the older sister of Lizzie, was the defense's most anticipated witness. Emma testified that Lizzie and her father enjoyed a good relationship. She told jurors that the gold ring found on the little finger of Andrew Borden's body was given to him ten or fifteen years ago by Lizzie and he prized it highly.

Emma also insisted that relations between Lizzie and her stepmother were cordial, even as she admitted to lingering resentment herself over the transfer by her father of a Fall River home (which Emma called "grandfather's house") to Abby and her sister. The defense had also hoped that Emma might testify that the Borden's had a custom of disposing of remnants and pieces of dresses by burning, but the court ruled the evidence inadmissible. Summing up for the defense, A. V. Jennings argued "there is not one particle of direct evidence in this case from beginning to end against Lizzie A. Borden. There is not a spot of blood, there is not a weapon that they have connected with her in any way, shape or fashion." Following Jennings, Governor Robinson, in his closing speech for the defense, insisted that the crime must have been committed by a maniac or a devil--not by someone with the respectable background of his client. He said the state had failed to meet its burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and that it was physically impossible for Lizzie, without the help of a confederate, to have committed the crime within the timeline suggested by the prosecution.

Robinson ridiculed the theory that Lizzie might have avoided getting blood spots on her clothes by killing her parents while "stark naked," and argued that the murders might well have been committed by an intruder who passed out of the house undetected. After Hosiah Knowlton's able summing up of the prosecution's evidence, Justice Dewey charged the jury. According to one newspaper report, had the judge "been the senior counsel for the defense, making the closing plea in behalf of the defendant, he could not have more absolutely pointed out the folly of depending upon circumstantial evidence alone." It was, the newspaper said, a "remarkable" charge--"a plea for the innocent." Justice Dewey told jurors they should take into account Lizzie's exceptional Christian character, which entitled her to every inference in her favor. The jury deliberated an hour and a half before returning with its verdict. The clerk asked the foreman of the jury, "What is your verdict?" "Not guilty," the foreman replied simply. Lizzie let out a yell, sank into her chair, rested her hands on a courtroom rail, put her face in her hands, and then let out a second cry of joy.

Soon, Emma, her counsel, and courtroom spectators were rushing to congratulate Lizzie. She hid her face in her sister's arms and announced, "Now take me home. I want to go to the old place and go at once tonight." Aftermath Borden trial courtroom Papers generally praised the jury's verdict. The New York Times, for example, editorialized: "It will be a certain relief to every right-minded man or woman who has followed the case to learn that the jury at New Bedford has not only acquitted Miss Lizzie Borden of the atrocious crime with which she was charged, but has done so with a promptness that was very significant.

The Times added that it considered the verdict "a condemnation of the police authorities of Fall River who secured the indictment and have conducted the trial." Not stopping there, the Times editorialist blasted the "vanity of ignorant and untrained men charged with the detection of crime" in smaller cities--the police in Fall River, the editorial concluded, are "the usual inept and stupid and muddle-headed sort that such towns manage to get for themselves." It is probably fair to say that, however likely it might be that Lizzie did murder her parents, the prosecution failed to meet its burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The state's case rested largely on the argument that it was impossible for anyone else to have committed the crime. For the Borden jury that, and a few other suspicious actions on Lizzie's part (such as burning a dress), turned out not to be enough for a conviction. Had the defendant been a male, some speculate, the jury might have been more inclined to convict. One of the defense's great advantages was that most persons in 1893 found it hard to believe that a woman of Lizzie's background could have pulled off such brutal killings.

After the trial, Lizzie Borden returned to Fall River where she and her sister Emma purchased an impressive home on "the Hill" which they called "Maplecroft." Lizzie took an interest in theatre, frequently attending plays and often associating with actors, artists, and "bohemian types." Emma moved out of Maplecroft in 1905. Lizzie continued to live in Maplecroft until her death at age 67 in 1927. She was buried by the graves of her parents in Fall River's Oak Grove Cemetery. Lizzie Borden Rhyme Song | Folklore not kind to Lizzie Borden Acquitted of ax murders - tribunedigital-baltimoresun Folklore not kind to Lizzie Borden Acquitted of ax murders November 15, 1990|By Carroll Lisby ONCE EVERY generation or so a person or event becomes so famous, so universally known and talked about, that it crosses the line from history into folklore. This happened to railroad legends Casey Jones and John Henry. It's also happened to Lizzie Borden. Everybody knows Lizzie Borden.

At a young age I -- like most of my contemporaries -- became acquainted with Lizzie through a popular children's rhyme which went: Lizzie Borden took an ax And gave her mother 40 whacks. And when the job was nicely done, She gave her father 41. Later my impression of Lizzie and her ax-wielding indiscretion was deepened by a song called "Lizzie Borden," which the Chad Mitchell Trio recorded during the '60s folk revival. Composed by Michael Brown, it began: Yesterday in old Fall River Mr. Andrew Borden died, And they got his daughter Lizzie on a charge of homicide. Some folks say she didn't do it and others say of course she did, L But they all agree Miss Lizzie B. was a problem type of kid. By chance I recently ran across a book about the Lizzie Borden affair. Entitled "A Private Disgrace: Lizzie Borden by Daylight" (1967), it was written by Victoria Lincoln, who, like Lizzie, was born in Fall River, Mass., and had known Lizzie during her later years. Lizzie died in 1927 at age 67.

The book vividly illustrates something we all know: Folklore has little respect for facts. It changes them freely to enhance a story. Lizzie, in particular, has not been treated kindly. Note, for example, the Chad Mitchell Trio song's reference to Lizzie as "a problem type of kid." We tend to think of Lizzie as a teen-ager or young adult when the murders were committed. But that's not the case. She was 32. Mr. Borden was 70, his wife 65. Lizzie's sister Emma -- also a spinster who lived at home -- was 42. Lizzie was not unruly or disrespectful but a well-mannered young woman. Her only problem was occasional "peculiar spells," which Lincoln diagnoses as temporal palsy and may have been a factor in triggering the crime. "Lizzie Borden took an ax." Not really an ax but a hand-held hatchet. "Her mother." Not true. Abby Borden was Lizzie's stepmother -- an important distinction. "Forty whacks . . . 41." Not true. Police medical examiners reported that Mrs. Borden died from 20 hatchet blows and Mr.

Borden from 10. But of course this doesn't rhyme. "Yesterday . . . and they got his daughter Lizzie." This implies that Lizzie was arrested immediately after the murders. Again, not true. Mr. and Mrs. Borden were slain on Thursday morning, Aug. 4, 1892. Police first suspected Lizzie's uncle. When it pTC turned out he'd been seen downtown about the time of the second slaying (Mrs. Borden died about 9:30, Mr. Borden about 11), suspicion turned to Lizzie. She was arrested exactly a week later -- on Aug. 11, 1892. But the rudest treatment of Lizzie has concerned her guilt. The children's rhyme, the song -- almost everything you read or hear -- declares that Lizzie killed her father and stepmother. The fact is that Lizzie's trial in New Bedford, Mass. -- one of the most sensational of the era, heavily covered by the nation's newspapers -- ended in acquittal. The jury took only an hour to unanimously decide that she was not a murderess. What's more, public sentiment both in Fall River and across the country was on her side.

For example, the New York Times, in commenting on the verdict, condemned those who had put Lizzie through such a meaningless and brutal ordeal. It's ironic that not merely folklore but every modern examination of the crime -- including Lincoln's -- has concluded that Lizzie was indeed guilty of hacking her father and stepmother to death. Carroll Lisby is senior editor of the (Columbus, Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer. MORE: Christina Ricci gets a grip on Lizzie Borden | New York Post Christina Ricci gets a grip on Lizzie Borden Modal Trigger In Christina Ricci's version of the story, Lizzie Borden is guilty! Zach Dilgard We all know that Lizzie Borden took an ax and gave her mother 40 whacks. But do we know what happened next? “Lizzie Borden Took an Ax” stars Christina Ricci as this deadliest of daughters, and tells the story of her parents’ grisly murder and her subsequent trial in melodramatic fashion.

Borden, who was accused of killing her father and step-mother in 1892, is portrayed as thoroughly guilty by Ricci, who gives her a sociopathic edge via sly looks, such as when her father is found with his face chopped off. “What I thought was interesting about playing this part,” says Ricci, “was the question of, ‘How does a person behave once they’re accused of this in trying to convince everyone they’re innocent?’ ” The film comes off as part horror film/part court procedural, as Lizzie tries to convince the police and her sister that she could never have done such a heinous thing — a defense that doesn’t hold up when we see Ricci strip naked to destroy her father’s face. The lurid scene was not itself based on evidence but, says Ricci, a likely scenario based on the evidence. “The best people can do is put all the elements together and hypothesize. [Based on the timeline], there was no way she could have gotten rid of her clothes. So one of the theories is that she committed the crimes naked,” Ricci says. “I’m a pragmatist, so I thought it was smart.

You can wash blood off your body, but it’s harder to get it out of clothes.” Borden was acquitted. Her lawyer made the case that she couldn’t possibly have committed such a vicious act because she was a woman. Executive producer Judith Verno’s belief in Borden’s guilt comes from her review of police and court transcripts, some of which appear verbatim in the film. “We added a line which is right out of the real transcript: ‘It’s very hard to imagine that if you found your father dead, on the couch, that you would remain in the house.’ To me, the natural instinct would be to leave the house, because the killer’s probably there,” she says. “That she sat down and remained so calm was very telling.” Whatever is true about this case, for Ricci, playing Borden was a chance to sink her teeth into a disturbed, possibly psychopathic character. Guilty or not, those are often the most fun for actors to play. “The most interesting people to play are the people who are really troubled, because most people are reactive,” she says.

“The most proactive person is gonna be the person with a lot going on in their mind.” Share this: Books: Forty Whacks - TIME Books: Forty Whacks TRIAL OF LIZZIE BORDEN  Edmund PearsonDoubleday, Doran ($3.50). Lizzie Borden took an ax And gave her mother forty whacks; When she saw what she had done She gave her father forty-one! It was a sweltering August morning in Fall River, Mass. Some of the Borden household felt distinctly under the weather. Night before last both Mr. & Mrs. Borden had been violently sick; this morning Bridget, the maid-of-all-work, felt none too well. But they all got up as usual, went about their daily tasks. After breakfast 70-year-old Mr. Borden walked down town to...

To continue reading: Lizzie Borden Murder Case Gets New Look With Discovery of Her Lawyer's Journals - ABC News ABC News Lizzie Borden Murder Case Gets New Look With Discovery of Her Lawyer's Journals By OLIVIA KATRANDJIAN WATCH Lizzie Borden Case Journals Discovered 0 Shares Email The notorious 19th-century trial of Lizzie Borden, a wealthy New England woman accused of killing her parents with an ax, is back in the spotlight with the discovery of her attorney's handwritten journals, providing fresh insight into the relationship with her father. Borden was acquitted in 1892, and much of the evidence in the case ended up with Andrew Jackson Jennings, Borden's attorney. The two journals, which Jennings stored in a Victorian bathtub along with other evidence from the case, including the infamous "handless hatchet," were left to the Fall River Historical Society by Jennings' grandson, who died last year. The society received the fragile journals about a month ago but won't be exhibited until they are properly preserved, curator Michael Martins said. Each journal is about 100 pages. One contains a series of newspaper clippings, indexed using a lettering and number system that Jennings devised.

The second contains personal notes that Jennings assembled from interviews he conducted. Some of the individuals interviewed are people mentioned in the newspaper clippings Jennings retained. "A number of the people Jennings spoke to were people he knew intimately, on a social or business level, so many of them were perhaps more candid with him than they would have been otherwise," Martins said. "But it's also evident that there are a number of new individuals he spoke to who had previously not been connected with the case." Martins and fellow curator Dennis A. Binette published a book last year called "Parallel Lives" that included five photographs and 40 letters and documents in Borden's hand that had not been previously published. Borden was imprisoned in Taunton, Mass., for 10 months pending her trial, and several of the letters published in "Parallel Lives" were written from her prison cell. Borden, who was 32 at trial, has been portrayed as a cold, stoic individual who showed no emotion, but the letters show a sensitive, grieving side of her. Borden's father, Andrew Borden, became known as an evil man who did not provide for his daughters. But Martins says the journals and letters paint Andrew Borden differently.

"You have to create villains in order to justify the murders, and Andrew Borden is portrayed as evil, but he gave his daughters a lot more than some other fathers were giving theirs," Martins said. Jennings' notes in his journals show he interviewed people who knew the Borden family intimately and were familiar with Andrew Borden's relationship with his daughters. "Lizzie Borden cared for her father very deeply," Martins said. "There was a tremendous outpouring of grief in the letters, and that's a new side to the story." Because the journals are so fragile, Martins has been unable to read them in their entirety, but he said it's unlikely they include a "smoking gun" that would prove Lizzie Borden killed her father and stepmother. Instead, they provide insight into the character of Lizzie Borden, who, despite her acquittal, was deemed by the public to be a brutal ax murderess, evident in the twisted nursery rhyme: "Lizzie Borden took an Ax, And gave her mother forty whacks, When she had seen what she had done, She gave her father forty-one." "Most of what is known about Lizzie Borden is based on legend, innuendo and outright lies," Martins said.

"Fact has been suppressed by fiction, and the fiction is much more interesting to a lot of people." 0 Shares

Question: Who “took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks”?
Answer: Lizzie Borden